


A Snippet In Time

by justbygrace



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Hair Salon, Mentions of Reinette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 08:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10849830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justbygrace/pseuds/justbygrace
Summary: Hair Salon AU - another long ago story I started and just now finished.(Title thanks to a friend of a friend)





	A Snippet In Time

For the record Rose only went to The TARDIS because Martha said it was _the_ place to get one's hair done and besides the salon she had been going to had decided to double their prices and really, sometimes it was good to branch out and try new things. The exposed beams and low lighting gave the place an edgy look that Rose rather thought was going to hurt her wallet and she was on the verge of walking out and texting Martha to remind her precisely what sort of budget she was forced to live under when the most attractive male human Rose had ever seen walked over to where she was waiting, introduced himself as the Doctor, and she forgot what her own name was, let alone prices and budgets and whether or not Ramen noodles was really worth a haircut.

It was. Oh, it was so worth it. While the Doctor looked like he belonged on the cover of Best Hair Magazine or Hot Men Inc or possibly the inset to Playgirl, his hands slipped through her hair without catching on a strand and gently taking away the stress of her constant ponytail. Rose really couldn't help the way she instantly tried to start talking to cover up the fact that she was making vaguely pornographic noises at the exquisite feeling of his hands on her scalp and his amused smile suggested that she wasn't the first customer to be so affected. 

She was texting Martha before the door of the salon had closed behind her, demanding to know why there had been no warning about the Doctor and the response she got from her friend had Rose narrowing her eyes suspiciously, but she was in too great of a mood to be entirely mad. With the memory of the Doctor's fingers rubbing her scalp, she was at least seventy-five percent sure she had lost the ability to ever be mad again.

Four days later she discovered that was not at all the case. Her assistant - and she used that term in the loosest possible sense - was as dense as a box of bricks and that was being rude to the bricks. Closing down her consulting business early - she was in no mood to deal with anyone's inability to restart their computer, she found her footsteps leading her in the direction of The TARDIS. By the time she arrived she had sufficiently convinced herself that she really did need to get her roots redone, hadn't she noticed they were getting a bit dark just that very morning?

If the Doctor had any confusion as to why she was seated in his chair again so soon, he hid it well. This time Rose forced herself to focus on something other than the Doctor's hands as he massaged the dye into her hair, congratulating herself when she noticed that their appeared to be two other employees other than the Doctor: a loud red-head woman and a man who looked like he was ex-military setting some elderly lady's curls with a delicate pat. She also made herself ask the Doctor questions and not just blabber nonsense again. By the time she left she was fast friends with Donna and Jack and, the Doctor, well, the Doctor smiled at her in a way that made fire and ice run through her veins. 

The third time she appeared at The TARDIS was an accident, really it was. She was in the neighborhood doing her grocery shopping and had noticed that there was a spot near her left ear that needed a bit of a touch-up. the Doctor very solemnly apologized for the oversight and helped her to a chair immediately and she pretended that she couldn't see that Donna and Jack were smirking behind their scissors. 

The fourth time was because she had suddenly decided that bangs were the way to go the previous night and please Doctor, make me look less horrible! The fifth time was because a bottle of black hair dye and tequila shots with Martha never ended well. And the sixth time was only because she was bringing a friend - Shareen had promised not to mention the round of drinks this salon trip had cost Rose - and had to make sure she could find it.

Visits seven, eight, and nine had excuses that would have won her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the tenth was three months since her first appointment and that's about when one was supposed to check in with their salon anyway, right? 

If the Doctor saw through her flimsy excuses, he was polite enough not to mention it and Donna and Jack only rolled their eyes at her when the Doctor couldn't see and gave her supportive hugs when he could. She'd been a constant enough visitor to The TARDIS that when she arrived for visit number eleven - she could have sworn she was getting split ends - Jack didn't even hesitate to mention that they were having severe computer issues and would she mind helping out? Rose ignored the contortions the Doctor's face was undergoing and happily sank behind the computer to work her magic. 

After that her visits to The TARDIS were more on the technical end and less on the hair-cutting end for which Rose's hair breathed a tremendous sigh of relief. And if The TARDIS had more need for a consultant than the average hair salon, well who was she to argue? When the suite just upstairs ended up with a For Lease sign on the door, she snapped it up with a killer offer and Bad Wolf Consulting soon had a permanent residence (Adam chose not to make the trip with the company, and frankly Cathica was a better fit anyway). 

It was about nine months after the first time she had graced the doors when she came skipping down the stairs and through the back entrance only to skid to a halt. It was a Tuesday at 2 pm and she always got a personal hair shampoo from the Doctor every Tuesday at 2 and yet there was someone in her chair, the Doctor's long fingers running through this person's long luxurious locks and Rose could only stand and stare in shock. The Doctor never looked up from his ministrations, his smooth words and his laugh, his actual laugh floating across the room. 

If the Doctor never looked up, Jack and Donna certainly did. Both of them had grim expressions and they alternated between sympathy when they looked at her and irritation when they looked at the Doctor. Jack offered, rather loudly, to shampoo her hair and Rose was on the verge of declining - after all, she didn't need to encourage Jack at all and the only fingers she wanted on her were the Doctor's, but a sudden burst of bright feminine laughter from the chair in the corner had Rose rushing towards Jack and the safety of his chair.

Jack gave her the royal treatment - free of charge - and kept up a running commentary of jokes, suggestive comments, and general hilarity but Rose hardly heard him. She knew part of this was her own fault; she'd never intimated to the Doctor that she wanted more than what they had, but he also kept her at a disturbingly long arm's reach. Until now she had assumed this was his way, but now...now she was second-guessing every decision she had ever made up to and including the very first moment she had stepped through the TARDIS' doors. 

It felt like six hours, but it was probably more like 45 minutes before the Doctor was finally showing the mystery woman to the door and sauntering (there was really no other word for it) over to Rose with a self-satisfied smirk she desperately wanted to smack from his face, crowing about French royalty. She mostly tuned him out, until she heard something that sounded rather like "my cousin." 

"Your what?"

"Cousin, Rose! Isn't that brilliant? And only in town for the day! Simply had to stop by and get the royal treatment from me, you know my magical fingers and all and I say...! Why are Jack's fingers in your hair? This will not do, not at all - I thought we agreed..."

Rose tuned him out again, partly because he had shouldered Jack out of the way and the feel of those gloriously long fingers digging into the strands of her hair and massaging her scalp was making it hard to think and partly because the world had righted itself again. It wasn't until he was brushing out her tresses that she started listening again.

"And after dinner tonight, I thought we'd stop by and see her off at the airport - I know you'd like her. Engaged to a Prince, Rose! A real Prince! Isn't that magical?"

"Hold on - who's going to dinner?"

"We are - you and me! New Italian place down by the river, unless, of course, you don't want to..." and for the first time in fifteen minutes the Doctor's voice grew shaky and halted.

She hastened to reassure him, reaching out to grab his hand to seal the bargain, only to smile in surprise when his fingers found their way through hers and his hand tightened around hers. 

"Brilliant!"

And somehow, just like that, she knew it would be.


End file.
